Good afternoon, Chaverim,
I am trying to get better at paying attention and tuning into the “little”, and not so little, things happening all around me for which I can be/might be/actually am grateful. Some days, this exercise in mindfulness is easy, other days, not so much…
Here is today’s Gratitude Thought in the Middle of a Pandemic:
“We can’t enchant the world, which makes its own magic,
but we can enchant ourselves by paying deep attention.”
Diane Ackerman
An “enchanted” world, filled with “magic”…hmmmmmm….some days this world feels neither enchanted nor magical…at least not in the Disney version of enchantment and magic on which we were raised. Those are the days I am distracted and lost in my tired old stories about who or what I am or what I and my life “should” be (forgetting that those “shoulds” are outdated notions built upon other people’s ideas), the days I get caught up in the worry and am focused on what has gone wrong and what might go wrong tomorrow…
But, on the days when I am am able to be in my body, to be in the moment and pay “deep attention” to the countless little miracles of this life, the “magic” this world makes can be easily discerned (just check out the colors in the trees outside your window!), and I cannot help but be enchanted by and deeply grateful for it.
The gift of Shabbat in our tradition is the gift of a whole day set aside for rest; for “paying deep attention” to the magic of the now; for being grateful for one’s many blessings, both large and small; for being enchanted, caught up and delighted by the wonder of all of it…
Wishing you all a magical and peaceful Shabbat,
Marci
